1. Field of Invention
In one broad aspect, the invention relates to fibers, preferably conductive fibers. In another broad aspect, the invention relates to a conductive polymer matrix comprising conductive particles.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of materials and methods have been known and used for protection against electrostatic discharge. Antistatic and conductive materials are useful for such applications. As used herein, the term "nonconductive" means material with a surface resistivity greater than 10.sup.11 .OMEGA./square; the term "antistatic" means material with a surface resistivity between 10.sup.4 -10.sup.11 .OMEGA./square; the term "highly conductive" means material with a surface resistivity between 10.sup.0 -10.sup.4 .OMEGA./square; and the term "conductive" broadly means material with a surface resistivity between 10.sup.0 -10.sup.11 .OMEGA./square. The use of organic polymers which are electrically conductive is well known. However, one of the limitations of the conductive organic polymer materials and methods previously utilized has been their lack of stability. The influence of environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity and air oxidation on the stability of conducting polymers is described in Munstedt, H., "Aging of Electrically Conducting Organic Materials", Polymer, Volume 29, Pages 296-302 (February, 1988). In particular, conventional polymer films and surface treated fibers are limited by thermal stability, resistance to chemicals and mechanical abrasion. Therefore, the art has sought materials and methods for making materials with reduced resistivity that are environmentally stable.